Yet it’s hard to see Christie getting so much traction if he were out there castigating, say, immigrants or Wall Street bankers. What makes Christie compelling to so many people isn’t simply plain talk or swagger, but also the fact that he has found the ideal adversary for this moment of economic vertigo. Ronald Reagan had his “welfare queens,” Rudy Giuliani had his criminals and “squeegee men,” and now Chris Christie has his sprawling and powerful public-sector unions — teachers, cops and firefighters who Christie says are driving up local taxes beyond what the citizenry can afford, while also demanding the kind of lifetime security that most private-sector workers have already lost.

The trick won’t work as well this time because unlike mythical “welfare queens” and “squeegee men”, mythical teat-sucking public union members are often white. So, no, public union members are not the ideal adversary here. It will take years of propaganda to make bitching about public sector unions as effective as bitching about teh black and teh brown.

Republicans jumped the gun this time.

Also too, it is stunning how much the media loves a governor who uses “plain talk” to fuck over the middle-class.

It is best to regard all U.S. political journalism as propaganda devoted to advancing the economic interests of those making over $200,000 a year, who are the only customers the journalism industry gives a damn about. Bai is a perfect example of the thought process “I am a center-right person. I am an American. Therefore, America is a center-right country.”
The truth, that America is a society of cheapskate deadbeats who want many government services but don’t want to pay taxes, and therefore saying public employees should work for less is a viable political position, is a little too complicated for Bai, and besides, no large media outlet allows reporting pointing out that Americans are fundamentally flawed in any way.

Growing up in my Republican household I was always told not to go into Public service since they get paid so little and the benefits really don’t make up for it.

I took a 35% paycut when I first entered a state level job, and I love it, but it also showed that my parents were right about the income. I now wonder what mental gymnastics they’re going to go through to prove that people like me make too much money, when for years I was told it wasn’t fiscally smart to work there in the first place.

Even worse, my current university job doesn’t even have a pension anymore, just a 401k.

I’m looking forward to the “Boo hoo, look at how the affluent are suffering because they had to wait an extra year to buy a new Mercedes” article. That is REAL suffering. Just think of how embarrassing it must be to have your kids dropped off at private school in a 3 year old car.

It will work. What kills the middle class more than anything is the antiquated middle class morality that centers on policing people’s sexual practices and other irrelevent social issues. The middle class will again be distracted by gays, guns and brown people so they’ll vote for the same people that are screwing them.

As a data point, even in the last 30 years of union busting around 97 UPS drivers went on strike and my recollection was the media was treating them the same way. Funny thing happened though, people, who had a lot of daily contact with UPS drivers, in my best recollection, heavily supported the drivers, who ultimately prevailed. Those guys were not some abstract goon out of a TV story about Hoffa.

I posted last night about an incredibly stupid story the local news ran last night on how those super rich fat cat state park department employees are ripping off the taxpayer.

Some park employees live inside the parks they work at, and are basically on duty 24 hours a day. Some of the places they live are incredibly scenic and have wonderful views that the rest of us only dream of. A local think tank is upset that the park department employees don’t pay fair market value for rent in the state housing in the parks.

In Robert Altemyer’s “The Authortarians” he characterizes authoritarian as such:

We shall probably always have individuals lurking among us who yearn to play tyrant. Some of them will be dumber than two bags of broken hammers, and some will be very bright. Many will start so far down in society that they have little chance of amassing power; others will have easy access to money and influence all their lives. On the national scene some will be frustrated by prosperity, internal tranquility, and international peace–all of which significantly dim the prospects for a demagogue -in-waiting. Others will benefit from historical crises that automatically drop increased power into a leader’s lap. But ultimately, in a democracy, a wannabe tyrant is just a comical figure on a soapbox unless a huge wave of supporters lifts him to high office.

It seriously will, and will take less time than anyone thinks. The couple of times I’ve tuned into talk radio in Wisconsin this week, it’s been a nonstop barrage of “lurking teachers support me in e-mail for fucking them over” and “those cops are all fat and greedy” and I dunno, maybe having never once won a fight against the Republican noise machine I’m just skeptical of being able to win one at all.

I think I need to get off the Internet for a while and detox or something. I’m getting depressing.

I love how Bai and the Times call on unions to make “shared sacrifices”, but they won’t call on the rich to make pitch in to balance the budget.

To the contrary, when Obama proposed executive pay limitations on companies received tax payer funded bailouts, the Times printed an embarrassing infamous article pleading for mercy saying “you can’t live on $500,000 in manhattan.”

I’ve noticed that the Times has been schizophrenic in its treatment of the protests. The editorial page and the expected columnists are on the pro-side, but much of the news reporting has had a very anti-union cast. It makes me wonder what’s going on there.

Don’t you just love how, when it comes up that Public employees have benefits that the private employee has gradually lost over the last few years, the question isn’t ‘Why has the private employee gotten so screwed’, but ‘Why are the public employees so goddamn greedy’? It’s not about alleviating pain for those who have been subjected to it, but spreading it to those who have been spared it, simply out of spite.

And like Athenae, I find myself all too skeptical it will work out into a win for us, since again, it seems like the trolls always. Fucking. Win.

Anybody out there in Punditland willing to point out that public sector workers have better benefits than private sector workers because private sector employers have been cutting/starving those benefits for years and years?
The decline in Union membership in the private sector probably has nothing to do with this. No, really! American workers WANT stagnant wages and less benefits! Walker just wants to make sure that teachers have the same access to shitty pay and no pensions that Real Murkins have.

Growing up in my Republican household I was always told not to go into Public service since they get paid so little and the benefits really don’t make up for it.
I took a 35% paycut when I first entered a state level job, and I love it, but it also showed that my parents were right about the income.

You obviously don’t live in NJ, where govt salaries and benefits — at least in the northern counties I know — are extraordinarily high. My cop friend who retired at 50 gets a pension of 90K/year plus full medical and dental benefits for himself AND his wife. My teacher friend retired after 20 years and is getting a pension of $75K plus full medical and dental benefits — her co-pay is $5 and she is bitching that her co-pay may go up to $25. She is also concerned, however, about her property taxes. She is paying $14K/year for her property taxes but her town just did a reval showing her house lost $250K in value and she thought her taxes would go down…the town can’t afford to lower taxes so the rate is going up to keep the tax bill the same.

The NJ legislature and governors in the past really screwed up by buying votes with huge union packages and then doubly screwed up by not funding them.

I know I’m supposed to want ALL salaries in NJ to be at the $90-$100K range with good benefits instead of feeling jealous of my public union brethren. But what kind of jobs would pay that kind of money? Small shop owners? Restaurants? The hardware store? Hair salons? Secretaries? Bookkeepers?

Also too, it is stunning how much the media loves a governor who uses “plain talk” to fuck over the middle-class.

Or swagger. The projection of certainty goes a long way towards preempting criticism, an essential part of the long con. So the GOP recipe for political success, expressed by the phrase ‘plain talk and swagger’, really amounts to telling overly simplistic but compelling lies with manly conviction.

I echo everyone else, it’s refreshing to have comments on such places falling on the sane side. Especially when it seems like almost everywhere else, from the WaPo, to the HuffPo, to TIME, Salon, etc. seem totally populated by right wing trolls who seem to get rewarded time and time and time a-fucking-gain for their batshit insanity.

Bai and his editors don’t want to see their property taxes go up a single cent, so they drum up this shit about shared sacrifice, even though Bai and company won’t make a single sacrifice themselves.

They portray Christie as a hero for slashing the salaries of those who drive economic demand and buttress the recovery, and then they trash Obama as a socializt because he wants to raised the tax rate on the rich 4 measly points.

Chris Christie has his sprawling and powerful public-sector unions — teachers, cops and firefighters who Christie says are driving up local taxes beyond what the citizenry can afford, while also demanding the kind of lifetime security that most private-sector workers have already lost.

And he wouldn’t be getting away with it, were it not for credulous douchebags with bylines, like Matt Bai.

@Mike Kay (Peacemaker): When moral argumentation is all you got to support your fundamental immorality, you go for the moral argumentation. It also helps if you buy off the god-talkers to buttress your moral argumentation.

The trick won’t work as well this time because unlike mythical “welfare queens” and “squeegee men”, mythical teat-sucking public union members are often white. So, no, public union members are not the ideal adversary here. It will take years of propaganda to make bitching about public sector unions as effective as bitching about teh black and teh brown.

Actually, public sector jobs are disproportionately held by women and minorities. True, many of the sexy ones like police and firefighters remain lily white, but not teachers and administrative workers.

@Svensker: I live in NNJ–Bergen County. I agree that these examples are fucking annoying, but they’re the tiny percentage of exceptions to the rule that says ALL public employees should just STFU because they have jobs.

Citing the Police Chief of Oakland, NJ’s compensation as the norm for public employees is like using the $3 million McDonalds/Hot Coffee settlement as the basis for widespread tort reform–misleading, false, and, besides, who the fuck cares how that makes you feel.

Tell you what I think is nuts–private sector salaries that reward failure, incompetence, and dishonesty. Like, say, 80% of all jobs in the financial services sectors.

Yes, I agree. When this whole thing started, I thought that all public union folks made what they do in NJ. Apparently not. I’m not sure how I feel about the logic of a “public union” but I’m backing the folks in WI all the way.

Did the Republican Governor’s Association disinvite Schwarzenegger this year? His attacks on the Nurse’s Union a couple of years ago helped to seal his fate. Perhaps a talk with the former Governator would have given them a little pause.

I dunno, maybe having never once won a fight against the Republican noise machine I’m just skeptical of being able to win one at all.

Victories:

DADT has been repealed. Gays can now serve openly in the military.

HCR (whether you like it without PO, isn’t the point. Something big got passed over right-wing noise).

There’s more, but keep in mind conservatives are reactionary, when it comes to change. They try to prevent change from happening. The change – whether Civil Rights, equal rights for women (some conservatives want to be the first ones to elect a woman President, in Sarah Palin), married couples being able to get divorced, unwed couples being able to stay in a hotel room together, etc. – will happen, because society is moving in that direction anyway.

In the long run, conservatives have gotten their ass kicked on most issues, such as Civil Rights.

there is a funny piece on Matt Taibbi’s website about Matt Bai. Check it out…

so much traction against immigrants? I think if Gov Christie turned his focus on immigrants, the public would stop complaining about unions and collective bargaining agreements. beating up on immigrants is always a vote getter. Christie needs to change his tack.

Really, I’m tired of the Republicans bashing govt. workers. Let’s not forget about the Teabagger Congressman wanting his health insurance before he got sworn in because COBRA costs too much. Likewise, Kasich cut pay for the lowly staffers in his office, but jacked up the pay of his appointee buddies. Fucking assholes, if the hell the conservatives believe in exists, they’ll get an up-close look at it.

@Svensker: A guy who risks his life in his career is greedy because he gets a $90K pension – meanwhile folks like Carly Fiorina can fail themselves into vast fortunes and their greed (if not their incompetence) is seen as a virtue. Yes some public pensions are a little on the generous side, but they’re peanuts compared to the golden parachutes our Galtian Overlords fail themselves into.

The downfall here for the GOP is attacking cops, teachers and firefighters. Almost everyone knows their kids’ teachers, and most parents like teachers and think they provide a valuable service. As for cops and firefighters, well, they’re pretty hard to demonize.

@Mike Kay (Peacemaker): What’s overlooked about Christie’s tax cutting, by right-wingers, is the one tax he cut was a millionaire’s tax on people making lots of money.

He has yet to mention rolling back the state sales tax to 6%. One of Gov. Corzine’s first (ill-fated, in the long-run) acts as governor was to raise the sales tax from 6% to 7%. He shut down the state government, workers got furloughed and people were generally pissed at Corzine. This was back in 2005 or 2006.

Rolling back the millionaire’s tax exasperated the budget problems and led to Christie’s assault on unions and slashing $800 million the state was giving to local school districts. The $800 million dollar cut, triggered a wave of lay offs in local school districts.

Isn’t it amazing? Ten years ago firefighters were revered for keeping us safe as potential first responders in the War on Terra. Now they’re socialist welfare queens.

National Democrats need to start making the point that Republicans are all about demonization and scapegoating. And if you aren’t (borrowing a phrase from Scott Walker in his talk with the counterfeit billionaire) “one of us” you will eventually find yourself at the top the the Republican shit list.

It isn’t about black and white, it is about class and keeping the low classes pushed down where they belong and keep them fighting each other.

All those basserd teachers and public workers? Push those uppity basserds down where they belong, the leaches sucking on hard earned tackz dollers. Get the resentment rolling and all the other economically deprived will vote with the republicans to drag down anyone they can because why should the basserds get pensions and health care if I can’t have any.

It’s the new politics of the old confederacy. The republicans didn’t take over the south, the confederacy took over the republicans.

Isn’t that the point of those obnoxious car commercials with the curly haired snotty moppet? Makes me wanna smack a brat.

My car is almost 30 years old and I was warned by my boss, no, forbidden, to drive it to a remote area for filming. I can’t wait for the huge salary I am bankrupting the country with to arrive. Where do I file the paperwork for it?

1. cost his state 400 million dollars in education money due to his own folly
2. had the nerve to cancel the public works project and then think that the government shouldn’t get their money back.
3. tried to blame the Lt. Governor for being out of town during the snowstorm while he frollicked in FLA, knowing damn well she was spending time with a parent who has stage FOUR CANCER.

yeah, keep on pushing for Governor ‘ take no responsibility for anything’

@sparky:
You can open a new tab and edit.
I don’t agree with you that we aren’t making progress.
It is slow and not in huge chunks, but we are doing a lot better than when Bush was prez.

NJ The Camden library is gone. A large number of fire fighters and police are gone. Camden has bad crime rates.
There was a rally in Trenton today.
A fox bidness tv host was excited that he wpi;d be having his little show there and was going to talk to the head of the AFL CIO.
Bet he doesn’t know what that stands for.

My takes is this. The GOP establishment hates poor people (or rather, anyone other than the super rich), and GOP voters hate minorities. For a long time, the GOP was able to conflate two. The rich hated that their taxes were being used to give the poor some food stamps, and the voters hated the idea that their taxes were helping undeserving “young bucks.” Reagan’s t-bone story strategically wove both into one.

Isn’t that the point of those obnoxious car commercials with the curly haired snotty moppet? Makes me wanna smack a brat.

Yep. My response wouldn’t be, “Yes, I’ll immediately buy a brand-new car so you won’t be embarrassed in front of your friends, sweetums!” More like, “You’ve got two feet — if you don’t want to be seen in this car, feel free to walk home.”

Those public sector pension plans look pretty good until you realize that most state workers do not qualify for Social Security (federal government cannot tax state governments, you know). So the states set up pension funds for state workers. Now the GOP wants to renege on those. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that Walker in WI is looking at the public sector pension plan as a place to loot and cover the state’s shortfall and that the looting is the reason for the denial of collective bargaining.

A guy who risks his life in his career is greedy because he gets a $90K pension – meanwhile folks like Carly Fiorina can fail themselves into vast fortunes and their greed (if not their incompetence) is seen as a virtue. Yes some public pensions are a little on the generous side, but they’re peanuts compared to the golden parachutes our Galtian Overlords fail themselves into.

Cops in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, crime rate 0%, do not (often) risk their lives in their work. They do a fine job and should get a fine salary, but what they get is ridiculous.

But, yes, I’d rather not give taxpayer money to the Golden Parachute Crowd, and would rather raise their taxes first, then see where we are.

The thing about living in NJ, tho, is you start to get a bit jaded about Dems. The corruption is just so blatant, between the Mob, the Machine and the banksters. They all played politics with union deals and funding (to be fair, so did Ms. Whitman, the sane Repub) and now the taxpayers are trying to pick up the pieces.

NJ is not a model for the rest of the nation, one hopes. Good schools in the pretty suburbs, tho.

“…while also demanding the kind of lifetime security that most private-sector workers have already lost.”
This part of the quote is the crux of the biscuit. There seems to be much ignorance about the direct relationship between the demise of unions and the crap that private sector employees get. In this environment of 10% unemployment, it isn’t gonna get better for them, either. The quote ought to be emblazoned on the side of the GOP car at next NASCAR Race To The Bottom.
“My life sucks, so should everyone else’s” is not the way forward, people.